From left, Director Dan Swinton, Director of Photgraphy Justin Maine and First Assistant Cameraman Aron Noerr view something on the camera in a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, N.Y. Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

From left, Director Dan Swinton, Director of Photgraphy Justin Maine and First Assistant Cameraman Aron Noerr view something on the camera in a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming ... more

Photo: Lori Van Buren

Image 2 of 18

Actors are filmed behind a curtain in a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, N.Y. Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

From left, Director Dan Swinton and Director of Photgraphy Justin Maine view something on the camera in a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, N.Y. Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

From left, Director Dan Swinton and Director of Photgraphy Justin Maine view something on the camera in a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's ... more

From left, Bar owner Chris Ryan and his brother Matt Ryan, Duncan Crary, Director Dan Swinton and Director of Photgraphy Justin Maine work on a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming ... more

From left, Duncan Crary, Director Dan Swinton, Matt Ryan and his brother Chris Ryan work on a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in ... more

Photo: Lori Van Buren

Image 7 of 18

From left, Actor Rich Lounello, who plays the part of Jack "Legs" Diamond and Director Dan Swinton on the set of a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, N.Y. Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

From left, Actor Rich Lounello, who plays the part of Jack "Legs" Diamond and Director Dan Swinton on the set of a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition ... more

Photo: Lori Van Buren

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Actor Rich Lounello, who plays the part of Jack "Legs" Diamond on the set of a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, N.Y. Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

Actor Rich Lounello, who plays the part of Jack "Legs" Diamond on the set of a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, N.Y. Monday, ... more

From left, Ryan's Wake bar owner Chris Ryan, Director Dan Swinton and Matt Ryan work on a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, ... more

Photo: Lori Van Buren

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Image 11 of 18

From left, Director of Photgraphy Justin Maine and Director Dan Swinton view something on the camera in a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, N.Y. Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

From left, Director of Photgraphy Justin Maine and Director Dan Swinton view something on the camera in a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's ... more

Photo: Lori Van Buren

Image 12 of 18

From left, Director of Photgraphy Justin Maine and Director Dan Swinton view something on the camera in a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, N.Y. Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

From left, Director of Photgraphy Justin Maine and Director Dan Swinton view something on the camera in a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's ... more

Photo: Lori Van Buren

Image 13 of 18

From left, Matt Ryan and his brother Chris Ryan, Director Dan Swinton, and Duncan Crary work on a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in Troy, N.Y. Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

From left, Matt Ryan and his brother Chris Ryan, Director Dan Swinton, and Duncan Crary work on a historical re-enactment of Jack "Legs" Diamond for an upcoming WMHT documentary on Prohibition at Ryan's Wake in ... more

Photo: Lori Van Buren

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Author William Kennedy before a framed newspaper pictorial on the life of Legs Diamond at Kennedy's Albany townhouse Wednesday Sept. 14, 2011. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Author William Kennedy before a framed newspaper pictorial on the life of Legs Diamond at Kennedy's Albany townhouse Wednesday Sept. 14, 2011. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Dan Swinton is a slight, soft-spoken documentary filmmaker who considers himself a pacifist.

But for his upcoming WMHT-TV project on Prohibition, he'll be visually recreating the terrifying exploits of Jack "Legs" Diamond, the notorious gangster and bootlegger.

Swinton shot three days of historical re-enactments last week, a trifecta of violence: torture, a hanging and two additional murders. The gruesome acts are typical of Diamond's handiwork as he cut a bloody and highly profitable swath through Prohibition-era Albany, the Catskills and New York City in a battle to control the illicit booze trade.

In answering the call of the documentary filmmaker's art, Swinton also coaxed a nonsmoking actor to take up smoking cigarettes for a scene and lined up period firearms to lend authenticity -- tobacco and guns being two more things he personally opposes.

"These re-enactments created a kind of moral dilemma for me," he said. "I'm not going to make the film graphic, but I also want to do it in a way that's authentic without being gratuitous."

The Writers Institute will present a special screening of the film prior to a reading by Kennedy of his just-published novel, "Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes."

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday

Where: Page Hall, 135 Western Ave., downtown campus of the University at Albany

Admission: Free

Info: 442-5620; http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst

On TV

When: 11:30 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Monday

Where: WMHT-TV Ch. 17

Along with re-enactments, rare archival film footage and historic photographs, Swinton builds his 30-minute documentary upon the storytelling power of William Kennedy.

Swinton's film, titled "William Kennedy's Prohibition Story," is a locally produced companion piece to the three-part series "Prohibition" by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that will air nationally on PBS stations Sunday through Tuesday, Oct. 2-4. Swinton's film airs Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. on WMHT-TV. It also will be shown on all PBS stations across the state.

It is entirely narrated by Kennedy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Albany cycle, which includes "Legs," his fictionalized account of Diamond. In researching the novel, published in 1975, Kennedy conducted more than 300 interviews and amassed a small archive of Diamond material over the years.

"People like killers," Kennedy narrates in the opening sequence. "We revere people who will do what we won't do. The gangsters were guardian angels of our thirst."

Swinton and his crew set up in the great room, replete with a bar, pool table and library, of Kennedy's Averill Park home. They squeezed in a truckload of lights, sound equipment and five cameras.

Kennedy, who is 83, talked for nearly six hours straight. "I asked him at the halfway point if he wanted to stop and finish it the next day," Swinton recalled. "He said he wanted to keep going."

"How can you prep for something like that?" Kennedy said. "It was a lot of fun. I've been living with Legs my whole life, essentially. It just came out."

Swinton has crafted his documentary in the style of one of his favorite practitioners, Errol Morris. "I wanted it to feel like Bill was telling this story directly to the audience," Swinton said. "I was originally going to interview other people, but Bill is so compelling. He's our master storyteller."

Diamond was shot and killed as he slept on Dec. 18, 1931, in an upstairs room of a Dove Street rooming house that Kennedy now owns. He uses the room as an office and writing space, and the walls are adorned with framed newspaper articles about Diamond.

Kennedy's research -- including a confessional interview with political boss Dan O'Connell -- led him to conclude that Diamond was rubbed out by Albany cops at the behest of the Albany political machine. Newspaper coverage suggested it was a mob hit from rival gangsters. Officially, it remains one of the most famous unsolved murders in the city's history.

Kennedy lays out how O'Connell and Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd controlled the city and didn't want a challenge to their authority from organized crime. The O'Connell clan had its hand in the illicit numbers, baseball pool, horse betting and bootlegging rackets of the day. Dan O'Connell bought Hedrick Brewery (officially) when Prohibition was repealed in 1933 and coerced local tavern owners to put his ales and lagers on tap -- or face the political consequences.

But the Diamond saga is much bigger than an Albany story, and Swinton's film explores the hero worship of a brutal murderer during Prohibition, set against an ongoing fascination with gangsters in America that has stretched from the 1920s to today's gangsta rap.

"We idolized Legs as a hero and we're still idolizing gangsters," Swinton said. "Whether you think Prohibition was right or wrong, it spawned profiteers like Legs Diamond and their brutal tactics.''